Once again Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal Government has ignored community need, neglecting to even consider investing much-needed Mobile Black Spot Program funding across the cities of Kwinana and Rockingham.

Instead, a select shortlist of locations has been chosen for Round 3 of the Mobile Black Spot Program, a list that has been decided on by the Government without consultation with state and local government stakeholders.

Local Member of Federal Parliament Madeleine King said the lack of transparency in allocating this funding was concerning.

“Out of 106 locations on the Government’s shortlist, only seven are based in WA,” Ms King said.

“The Priority Locations list was made purely on the basis of political realities and funding the Coalition’s 2016 Federal Election Commitments.

Many communities across Rockingham and Kwinana suffer from a lack of mobile phone coverage as well as a lack of internet connectivity.

Ms King said politics needed to be taken out of allocating funding from the program and instead the Government should be addressing community need.